


Traitor's Blood

by earthphoenix (roughknuckles)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Blood Magic, Graphic Depictions of Illness, M/M, Non-Consensual Kissing, Ownership, Possession, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-08-28
Updated: 2007-08-28
Packaged: 2018-02-10 17:48:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2034312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roughknuckles/pseuds/earthphoenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry suddenly takes to being quite ill (near-possession by Voldemort) and the only one who can treat him is Snape, as all others only make things worse due to a shared connection both men have with the Dark Lord. Harry, through his scar. Severus, through his Dark Mark. </p>
<p>Implied Voldemort/Severus. Harry (possessed by Voldemort)/Severus.</p>
<p>Implied (non-consensual) Sirius/Harry.</p>
<p>(incomplete plot/story arc)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Traitor's Blood

A brusque, staccato knock resounded on Severus Snape's office door.  
  
"Enter." Severus said silkily from behind his desk where he was writing.  
  
Hermione Granger opened the door timidly, having never had to be in the office herself, she seemed loathe to cross the threshold. "Professor?"  
  
Snape looked up slowly, "Miss Granger? Yes, is there something I can do for you or are you allowing the heat from my office to escape for a reason?"   
  
Hermione shifted from one foot to the other, then forced herself to step inside and shut the door loudly behind her, making her wince a little, "Yes, Sir ... I mean, no ... I mean-" she was visibly breaking out in a cold sweat, "Madam Pomprey sent me, Sir, she said it's urgent."  
  
"I don’t treat girls, Poppy should know that by now." Snape sighed irritably, "Isn’t McGonogall available?"   
  
Hermione shook her head, shaking a little down to her fingers, "It's not ..." she turned scarlet and shuddered, "that, sir. A student has taken very ill and she says none of her potions are working ... can you perhaps ... come up and ... see? Perhaps?"  
  
"Yes, fine. Who is it?"  
  
"P... sir." She mumbled, trying to disguise the name.  
  
"Pisser?" Snape raised an eyebrow, "I believe that was a joke that went terribly wrong for you, Miss Granger."   
  
Hermione shut her eyes for a moment, "Potter, sir. It's Harry, he's really sick." The Granger girl turned a little white around the lips, chewing the inside of her cheek as she gripped the doorknob for dear life.  
  
Severus however abandoned his writing, and stood slowly, "Thank you Miss Granger, you can tell Poppy that I’ll be up directly."  
  
"Really?" Her eyebrows went up her head, surprised and she recovered, even trying to go through the door before she opened it. Miss Granger broke off at a near run, half to get away from Snape before he changed his mind, but mostly just to get away from Snape in his cold, dark office that felt too much like a morgue.

Whatever Potter’s ailment, it must have been more then broken bones or that kissing virus that had been making the rounds. Snape gathered no supplies, save for a notebook and quill before he left his office and headed up to the hospital wing.   
  
There was, atypically, no crowd around Potter's bed, instead his friends congregated outside the hospital door that bore the sign, "NO ADMITTANCE! STAFF ONLY!" A table full of tie-on nose and mouth masks sat by the double doors and sounds of Madam Pomfrey working busily came from inside the wing itself.  
  
"Move aside." Snape scowled, taking up a mask and placing it over his nose and mouth evenly before tying it off in the back tightly. He slipped inside one of the double doors, and made sure it was closed before crossing to the school nurse.  
  
Pomprey was crouched over a long, thin shape in a hospital cot. Potter was stirring, not just stirring, writhing, sweat was dripping off of his fingers and onto the floor, "Mr. Potter, Mr. Potter can you hear me? Mr. Potter!!!"  
  
"Madam Pomfrey?" Severus stood on the opposite side of the cot, "Does he respond to anything? Pupil dilation? Nerve response?"  
  
"His pupils are wide, he was talking to me or trying just a second ago!" The Nurse cast a cooling spell on the feverish fifth year and the boy gasped, eyes rolling back as his bared chest broke out in boils where the spell touched his skin. "MERLIN!" She gasped.  
  
"Stop using magic!" Severus scolded, as if that were already an obvious point.  
  
"BUT-" Madam Pomprey raced to the sink, soaking a cloth in cold water and throwing it to Snape, "here!" She soaked more, her own hands shaking violently as she ran back with more of them. "Quickly, under his arms, over his forehead."

Severus did this, but carefully, as to not put pressure on the boils and cause them to pop. "I will need you to draw a sample of his blood, and my own for comparison." Severus remained cool under pressure as he patted Harry down with the cool cloth, "As well as a vial of ground up Dragon’s bone."  
  
Madam Pomprey swore, "I don't have the equipment to do this without magic!"  
  
Harry moaned and his teeth started to chatter, his black hair was slicked back against his scalp and over his face from sweat, chest heaving with deep, rattling breaths.  
  
"They do in care of magical creatures. I suggest you contact Hagrid for them, but for Merlin’s sake, don’t let on what it is for. Now, Poppy, this needs to be done _now_."   
  
"Hell-" She took her mask off and raced out, down the stairs to collect what they needed from Hagrid.  
  
Harry's eyes closed and opened, closed and opened again and for a moment he looked at Severus, right at him. "S ... S ..." He reached up suddenly and GRABBED Severus by the hand, clutching his wrist, "SEVERUS-"  
  
"You know me?" Severus looked straight into Harry’s eyes, making a fist with his hand, unable to pull his arm away from the sick boy.  
  
"YES-" he seemed to be shouting as though the room were noisy and he had to struggle to be heard. His voice sounded raw, peeled away to it's core like an onion about to be butchered, "WHY DOES IT HURT? WHAT HAPPENED?"  
  
Briefly, Severus glanced down to Harry’s arm, as if expecting to see something there. "Do you hear someone? I know you are in pain. But ignore the suggestions to disconnect, do you understand? You must not allow yourself to be divided further."  
  
Tears cut through the sweat on his face and his jaw clenched hard, "I HEAR ... BLOOD ... FIRE ..." he seemed to struggle to breathe for a moment, squeezing Severus by the arm before his fingers fell into Snape's hand, "PLEASE-" he gasped, his body arching off the bed with anguish.  
  
"I know." Severus’s voice became hushed as he held Harry’s hand tightly, "Look at me, Harry." Severus’s gaze was steady and constant, "Keep your focus on me, right here."  
  
Harry wrenched his eyes open again and looked up, his gaze locked on Severus's as Poppy burst in with an apron full of needles and glass vials. "Is he still conscious?" She panted, assembling the archaic units quickly.  
  
"Yes." Severus whispered, not looking away, "Take his first while he’s still calm."  
  
"Severus-" Harry panted as Madam Pomprey took his arm in her hands and Harry gasped, then screamed. Boils broke out along the outline of her fingers and his flesh smoked.  
  
"Ah-" Severus gasped, "I’m sorry" he apologized to Harry. He spoke to Poppy, though kept looking at Harry, "I’ll draw the blood, and you’ll put a gram of dragon’s bone in the vial. You will then draw my blood and do the same. If Mr Potter’s turns as black as mine, then it will confirm what I already assume. His connection with the dark lord has evolved into something biological."  
  
Poppy went white, having taken her hands off the boy immediately. She nodded, wavering only a little before she went to work, handing Severus the needle and pointing, "There, his veins are already swollen, thirty degree angle, anchor with your thumb ..."  
  
Severus nodded and followed her direction, slowly to be sure that he did not miss, drawing the blood into the vial, then quickly covering the puncture with gauze.   
  
Poppy took the vial and set it aside, making sure it was stable.

Harry gasped only a little as the needle drew out, still clinging to Severus's arm with one hand, "What'sgoingon? What'sgoingon?" he murmured, mad with fever, his eyes glassy.  
  
"Do you know me?" Severus insisted again, "Look at me, do you recognize me?"  
  
"Sev ... Sev ..." Harry nodded slowly, panting, "Yeah ... what's ... why does it hurt so much?" Harry looked down at the hand-shaped blood blisters on his forearm, "I didn't do anything ..."  
  
"I am Professor Snape, Mr Potter." Severus remained careful, "Where are you now?" Severus held Harry’s hand with one hand, restraining it to his side while he offered his other arm to Poppy, "Quickly please" he said, glancing to her with a slight warning.  
  
Poppy used magic to draw Severus's blood easily, painlessly and set about mixing the crushed bone in the blood, watching the samples. Harry swallowed, "In ... bed ... cold ... gods I'm so bloody cold ..." he sat up and mashed his head against Snape's chest, shaking.  
  
"No, you’re not. You’re burning, remember? The fire. You’re burning and you’re not facing it. You must let it pass through you, do you understand? Don’t just ignore it."  
  
"NO!" Harry exclaimed, clinging tighter, "No, no ... I'll ... burn up, I'll be ashes ... help, Severus, help I'm so cold, I'm SO COLD ..." The boy clung to Severus, almost pulling him down into the bed.  
  
"Severus-" Poppy cleared her throat, showing him two tubes of perfectly ebony blood.  
  
Severus glanced to her and nodded, but held Harry tightly. "Burn, Harry. Let it pass through you, it will feel good. I swear to you." Severus closed his eyes, "Am I there?"  
  
"Yeah, but -" he panted, "swear, swear ... Severus swear ... please." He tucked his face against Severus's neck, his skin boiling well over a normal human temperature.  
  
"Watch me burn Harry, it will feel so good. It will protect you, it will cleanse you. I swear to you."   
  
"NO!" he GASPED and HUGGED Snape tightly, "no, no don't, don't ... don't oh gods Severus don't burn don't burn not you too don't GO!"  
  
Severus held Harry tightly, eyes still closed, "I’m burning Harry, I’m burning and I’m still here. It’s safe. He can’t touch you here. He wants you to run, Harry, he wants you to run away and right into his arms. He wants you. Stay with me, Harry, stay and burn. It’s safe here."  
  
Harry clung, "Promise, promise you won't leave-" he panted, his heart starting to race too fast for an actual pulse anymore. "promise me! Promise and I'll burn ..."  
  
"I promise you. I promise you Harry, I’ll stay. Burn with me. You're not alone." Perfectly rare tears fell from Severus’s closed eyes, slowly down his face and onto the boy in his arms.  
  
Harry nodded and his head fell back as he finally let himself give in to the heat. It started at his toes, tingling and burning, but not quite painful, "Oh gods ..." Harry gasped, shaking harder in Severus's arms, "ohgods ... don'tletgo."  
  
Severus held Harry fiercely, supporting his back, covering him with his own body, his own face pressed against the side of Harry’s temple, "I’m right here."  
  
"Scared-" he whispered as the heat worked up his legs, his thighs. "AH-" He clung tighter as the sensation worked through his buttocks, over his balls, up his now painfully hard cock, "oh no oh no- oh no- oh no ... please no not now-" Harry rocked his hips against Severus's hips, hard, gratingly hard as he clenched his teeth.  
  
"It feels good to burn" was Severus’s only comment as he allowed Harry to work it through his system.  
  
Harry GROANED and nodded, tears leaking from his green eyes as he CONVULSED, the fever taking over his entire body, skin going supernova-white as his young body arched sharply and then sagged back, limp in Severus's arms, unconscious.  
  
"Thank Merlin …" _at last, a moment of mercy_. Severus continued to hold Harry tightly, his own voice raw at he gave his command to Poppy, "Have you been trained in any surgical techniques?"   
  
"What? No ... no, you'll have to take him to Mungo's for that ... what's going on Severus?"  
  
"His scar needs to be removed. It has become a mark, like my own, that he is the dark lord’s property, through which he can control and influence. It needs to be removed before this continues much further."   
  
Poppy's eyes widened, "No ..." he breathed, "but even if I did know, or the surgeons at St. Mungos, you are the only thing that doesn't make him bleed at the touch!"  
  
"I know … we are both … _owned_. And like can be with like. That was why I was hoping you knew, so that at least you could tell me what to do."  
  
Poppy sighed, "I can do that much ... it's just the skin we'll have to remove, isn't it?"  
  
Harry groaned quietly and his eyelids fluttered.  
  
"Yes, just the skin. Please get me the necessary supplies."  
  
"Have you ever done this before?" She summoned everything quickly, setting it all out on a tray and locking the doors.  
  
"Only with rats." Severus kept his eyes on Harry, willing him to remain in his current state.  
  
Harry moaned, writhing again, his fingers starting to curl. Poppy gasped, "He's waking up ... wait!" She summoned a jar of potion, draught of dreamless sleep, "You made this ... it should be fine to give him."  
  
Severus nodded, taking it, but speaking to Harry in this state, "Do you know me?"  
  
Harry opened his eyes and smiled, dazed, "Severus ...." he murmured, "you're still here, I missed you ..."  
  
"Yes, I’m still here. Do you trust me?"   
  
Harry whispered, "I have a secret."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Closer ..." he whispered, the black of his eyes growing.  
  
Severus leaned in cautiously, "Yes?"  
  
Harry smiled, blissfully and slid his hands into Severus's hair, bringing his own flushed, swollen mouth up, pressing it against Snape's lips and kissing him hard.  
  
That was enough of that. Severus pressed his arm across Harry’s chest and pinned the boy down, "Drink this."   
  
"But-" he gazed up at Severus, adoringly, lustfully, "I want ... I want ..."

Madam Pomprey's jaw dropped and she seemed suddenly unable of doing anything but looking like a caught fish.  
  
"No. Drink."  
  
"If I drink ... kiss again?" he smiled becomingly.  
  
"Yes. Drink."   
  
Harry drank, eyes still hungry, still on Severus until he drained it to the last drop and lowered the bottle, "kiss ..." he whispered.  
  
Severus waited for the draught to kick in, only kissing the corner of Harry’s lips so that he drank none of the potion in turn.  
  
Harry's eyes closed and he hummed happily before he went limp again, seeming so relaxed that he was boneless and porcelain white.  
  
"My ... gods ... what ..." Poppy blinked for the first time since Harry kissed Snape.  
  
"The sooner it is removed the better, agreed? Now, please explain what I do here …"

 

*            *            *

 

The ward felt cool, as though Harry were laying somewhere outside by the lake. His head ached, throbbing, and he felt pressure on it, a new tightness. "Ugh-"  
  
Professor Snape sat in a chair beside Harry’s cot, a blanket over his knees and his arm angled in a way to prop his head up as he slept. "Hmm?" His back spasmed as he woke himself up.  
  
Harry's hand flexed and he swallowed over a dry, swollen feeling throat. He tried to sit up but fell back, "Hello?" he groaned softly, one hand on his own throat.  
  
"Yes, Mr Potter. Someone is here."   
  
"Professor ..."  
  
"How do you feel?"  
  
"Sore ..." he blinked slowly, trying to focus, "my head ... did my scar explode?"  
  
"It’s gone."   
  
Harry shook his head gingerly, frowning, "What's gone?"  
  
"You're scar."  
  
His green eyes widened painfully, "What?"  
  
"Easy." Severus said smoothly, "Keep your eyes closed if you can. There was little choice in the matter."   
  
"You made it disappear, but you can't it's a scar it's ..." Harry groaned softly and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.  
  
"I removed it. There is now a natural one in it’s place, which will heal in time."  
  
He couldn't help it, his eyes opened, "YOU ... removed it? It's just- gone?" _You're talking about it like it was a tumor ... was it that ... easy?_  
  
"I had to, Mr Potter. The Dark Lord was using it as a trigger to get inside your head, to control, to _own_ you." Severus almost sounded sad to say it had been removed, seeing as how Dumbledore believed it important, that it should remain apart of the boy. "Seeing as how you did not willingly submit yourself to his service" _unlike Severus, at one time,_ "The mark had to be removed. Though, to be clear Harry. The scar was just the effects of death, denied. Your mother’s love, and her protection still remain in your blood." As a vial of Harry’s blood, properly red now, lay on a table just to the side of the boy’s bed.  
  
Harry followed Severus's gaze to his blood and stared at it for a moment before turning his face back to Snape, "What happened?" he touched the gauze that was taped to his skin over his forehead, "I don't remember ... I dreamed that I kept shaking."  
  
"You were. He was attempting to corrupt your blood, to placate you into obedience by presenting something fearsome which you would recoil from."  
  
Something sparked in Harry's eyes, recognition, burning. "Did I talk to you before?"  
  
"Yes. Do you have any memory of that?"  
  
"You were telling me ... to ... give up?" Harry tilted his head, it sounded like something Snape might tell Potter to do at the brink of death.  
  
Severus sighed, "To give _in_ , actually. A fine difference which you will no doubt, not appreciate."   
  
Harry sighed, closing his eyes again. _Git_. "Why did you tell me to do that?"  
  
"It hardly matters." Severus looked up at the door where the steady crowed of on-lookers remained. He stood, "Well, Mr Potter, you have placed yourself at the center of attention once more, I shall leave you to it."  
  
Harry sighed and nodded, looking down at his feet. "Right, back to classes, I guess."  
  
"Not today." Severus glided out.  
  
Harry sighed and laid back. A moment or three after Snape departed, a sound made Harry look up again at two faces, young and pale (one plastered in freckles) staring down at him.  
  
"Harry! You're awake!" Hermione hugged him gently, her back shivering a little.  
  
"Yeah ... hey, I'm ... fine you guys" to prove it, Harry made himself sit up and hoped it didn't show how hard that was.  
  
"So ..." both of them looked uncomfortable.  
  
"So? ... I'm rid of the scar!"  
  
They just nodded, blushing.

"What is it, you guys, what?"  
  
Hermione smiled a little, apologetically, "You don't ... remember, Harry?" Ron looked a little disgusted.  
  
Harry felt a sudden sinking in his stomach, as though he'd eaten a brick.  
  
Hermione sighed, "You might as well know ... it's not your fault, you were so feverish, Harry."  
  
"What's not?"  
  
Ron had to turn away, muttering at his shoes.  
  
Hermione swallowed, "Snape saved your life. He really SAVED your life Harry, we all heard it. You were so sick, no one else could touch you without making you sicker and then Snape came in and ... he had to cut you open, oh, Harry it was horrible."  
  
Harry blinked, "What!?"  
  
Ron sighed, shrugging, "I dunno, he came out at one point and ... you know how he is, all blank-faced and so on but I swear, Harry ... he looked ..."  
  
Hermione whispered, "We were there under the cloak because everyone was sent away ... but he looked scared Harry. He looked really, really scared for you."  
  
Harry frowned, "Wasn't Dumbledore making him do it?"  
  
Ron shook his head, "Dumbledore was in his office, trying to keep everyone calm, McGonnagal was almost in tears."  
  
McGonnagal was no surprise, Harry knew she'd been around him enough to care if he lived or died but ... Snape?

 

*            *            *

 

It was late, almost midnight by the time Harry stopped debating in front of Severus's door and rose his hand under the invisibility cloak to knock three times.  
  
The door opened straight away, and there stood Severus, in his night robes, more alert then any sleeping man had a right to be. Harry had been expected, as Severus had been waiting for the boy to make the final decision. "Mr Potter."   
  
Harry pulled the cloak off, his forehead still bandaged, cheeks reddened. "Hi ... um-" he rubbed the back of his neck, "can I come in? Please?"  
  
"I am not in the habit of accepting students into my personal chambers." And yet, Severus stood back, allowing Harry entrance.  
  
Harry walked in, taking a look around the sitting room that was once austere and packed full of books upon books at the same time. "This is your place?" he asked, knowing it was a dumb question.  
  
"For the time being. Is that what you came to discuss, Mr Potter? My living arrangements?"   
  
Harry took a deep breath, "Not really, no-" he looked up at Snape, licking his lips thoughtfully. "I came to say that Ron and Hermione told me what ... actually happened the night I was sick."  
  
 _Predictable_. Severus stared at Harry simply, as if giving the impression _, and your point?_  
  
"My point is-" he looked down, gathering his thoughts, "my point is that-" Harry looked up again, green eyes bright again under the glasses, "I remember ... kissing you."  
  
"A single kiss does not determine if you are a homosexual or not, Mr Potter, if that is your concern."   
  
"It's not that-" Harry swallowed, "I know I'm gay. I've known for a long time."  
  
That caught Severus a little off guard. _Alright._ "Then what is it?"  
  
"That I ..." Harry looked at the door behind him, suddenly nervous, "is that locked?" he whispered.  
  
"Yes, why?"  
  
"Can you put a silencing charm on it?" he asked, his voice a little thin, worn in a way that had nothing to do with his recent illness.  
  
"Why, Mr Potter? Who do you expect is listening?"   
  
"Anyone ..." Harry paced and watched Severus, waiting for the silencing spell, "it's ... important."  
  
"Very well." Severus summoned his wand from the other room and placed a silencing charm across the door.  
  
Potter sank down into a chair before Severus's desk, head in his hands.  
  
Severus remained cautious of Harry. After all, he had just locked himself in a room with a silencing spell with a boy who was known to channel the dark lord on occasion. There were no guarantees that removing the scar worked. "Mr Potter?"   
  
Harry took a deep breath, exhaling until his back went concave. "You were right," he murmured, looking up a little with eyes that suddenly seemed so much more than seventeen years old.  
  
"About anything in particular?"  
  
The second hand the clock ticks away a few times before Harry seems able to answer, "Sirius."  
  
"Why would you say that, now, of all times?"  
  
"I ... didn't know who I can say it to until the other night-" Harry sat back, his hands shaking. "I still don't know if I should- can- say the rest ... not even Dumbledore ... I just ... he's a good man, he's been through too much and he's just- really ... confused ... just confused and ..."  
  
"Excuse me?"   
  
Harry forced himself to look at Snape, "Do you remember ... him and my ... my father?"  
  
Severus could never forget the marauders, but waited as he picked up on Harry’s inference, "Yes."  
  
"How they were ..." he began, hoping beyond hope Snape knew what he was talking about.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Sometimes," Harry nodded, "sometimes he ... he says how much I look like my father, everyone does, right? Even you ... you think so too." The green eyed boy cleared his throat, his eyes locked onto Snape's, "and ... sometimes when ... when ..."  
  
 _You’re not telling me this._ Severus’s chin raised slightly. "How far has it gone?"  
  
Harry's face went blank, almost rigid and he turned his head away. "It's not his fault" he whispered, "he doesn't know it's me ..."  
  
"How. Far."  
  
Harry looked up again, trying to control the lump in his throat, "Far enough, sir."  
  
 _Too far, at any rate_. Severus couldn't speak. He looked ready to destroy something.  
  
Harry closed his eyes, needing to in order to get the rest of his words out, "Sir ... I ... I was ... can I please ... have detention over Easter break?"  
  
"Yes. You have detention." Severus said coldly.  
  
Harry nodded, his shoulders slumping in relief that looked like defeat. It felt like both. "Please don't ... tell" he managed, "please don't tell ... Dumbledore ... or anyone. He's harmless as long as I'm not there and even then he doesn't mean to hurt me, he's just very-" he looks up, "he's mad."  
  
"Don’t." Severus seethed, speaking through his teeth, "Make excuses for him."  
  
Harry looked up again, dark circles under his eyes had taken permanent residence months before he was sick and no one seemed to notice. He returned from Christmas break less rested than he'd been before, Hermione and Ron said nothing about it. "I'm sorry, sir."  
  
"DON’T."  
  
Harry stood, "DON'T WHAT?"  
  
"Don’t APOLOGIZE."  
  
"FINE!" he shouted, unsure exactly why but that it felt the right thing to do.   
  
Severus just stood there for a long, long time. Even in the darkness of the room, his black eyes looked glassy.  
  
"I shouldn't have said anything ..." Harry whispered, almost to himself, "you're going to tell, aren't you?" his eyes widened, "are you?"  
  
"I haven’t decided what I’m going to do yet. But I think, Mr Potter, whatever it is I decide to do, it was what you were secretly hoping for, and thus why you told me in the first place."  
  
"I ..." Harry licked his lips, "I liked kissing you. I _really_ liked kissing you-"  
  
Severus shook his head, "You should go, Mr Potter. Get some rest."  
  
"Wait! Let me explain ... I told you this because I liked kissing you. I know that makes no sense, but ... I've never kissed anyone and liked it that much before ..." Harry's eyes dropped down to the carpet. "I'd rather kiss you and like it than kiss him and feel like I'm ... " he sighed, "when he kisses me I don't feel anything- I feel nothing at all."  
  
Severus’s eyes fell, his jaw tight as his lips parted, forcing himself to breathe. "Thank you Harry. But as the fates should have it, it can never happen again."  
  
"Why?" he whispered softly.  
  
"I’m not yours to touch."  
  
Harry's eyes went wide, "You're ... with ... someone?"  
  
"No Mr Potter. Not in the sense you assume." Severus swallowed, frustrated, "So I shall explain. The only reason why we were allowed to kiss in the first place, to touch, at all, was because for a moment, for a few hours, we belonged to the same man."  
  
The boy's voice was suddenly tight with anger, "You DON'T belong to him!"  
  
"My biological and psychological conditioning suggests otherwise, Mr Potter. But it is a noble idea."  
  
"YOU don't belong to him anymore than I belong to Sirius!" Harry strode forward, his bright eyes sparking with fury.  
  
"Stop!" Severus drew back, his hand raised, "You cannot touch me." It was not anything he had ever had to say before, no one had ever _wanted_ to.  
  
Harry blinked, dumbstruck as he realized exactly why, "You shouldn't have taken my scar ..."  
  
"There was no alternative. If you are sincere in your beliefs, however, perhaps one day you can help me be free of Him."  
  
"Yes, now ... why not do the same thing? Why not remove the scar on your arm?" He knew why but it rushed out of him, irrational and needy, scared.  
  
Severus smirked, something sickly amused, "You know exactly why I cannot, and yet you asked anyway."   
  
Harry grunted, eyes narrowing, "Sorry, I'm rather used to being stuck with the mutant remains of Voldemort's soul inside me. I assumed a little ..."  
  
"Then one thing before I insist that you go to bed, Harry." Severus walked towards the door to let Harry out, "I liked kissing you, too" _and holding, god, holding._  
  
Harry's eyes softened, "I still have detention this weekend, don't I?" He made no movement to leave.  
  
"Yes, you do."  
  
"Can you write to my godfather ... explaining?"  
  
Severus nodded, "Please, Mr Potter. You have the luxury of drinking drought of the living dead. I however, have not slept in three days."  
  
"Why not?" Harry's brow furrowed, _why haven't you slept a wink since I've been ill?_  
  
"Mr Potter. I have asked you politely. Respect my wishes and go, else you will find yourself in detention after break as well."  
  
"You brought it up, I'm just asking you to elaborate. Why can't you sleep? Why can't you use a potion, come to think of it?"  
  
But being able to admit that he cared for Harry, meant some part of him was still able to resist Voldemort’s influence, even after all these years. "Good night, Mr Potter." Severus grabbed Harry by the shoulder and shoved him out his door.  
  
Harry skidded on his ass and the last look Snape had of him was of the dark haired boy glowering up at the Potions Master ... and then smirking.  
  
 _Gotcha_.

**Author's Note:**

> co-authored. originally written for thestralskinphoenixtears


End file.
